Brian Nation
Apr 8, 2006, 12:17 PM
Gavin Walker's "The Jazz Show" is heard Mondays 9PM to midnight on CITR (http://www.citr.ca/) 101.9 FM and online (http://www.citr.ca/default.asp?id=19&mnu=19). Each show features an entire album at 11PM.
The 11:00PM Jazz Features this month:
April 3: Bobby Hutcherson “The Stroll”.
April 10: Chick Corea “Three Quartets”.
April 17: Dizzy Gillespie (soloist) with the J. J. Johnson Orchestra “Perceptions”.
April 24: Johnny Griffin “The Man I Love”.
April 3: Bobby Hutcherson is really one of the geniuses of the vibraphone or vibraharp. Bobby was born in Los Angeles on January 27, 1941 and raised in Pasadena and was a bit of a prodigy beginning on piano at age nine and developing fast. He heard Milt Jackson play and became obsessed with the vibes and never looked back. He took some lessons from Dave Pike (an overlooked figure in the development of the vibes) and soon as a young teen began working with locals namely saxohponists Curtis Amy and Charles Lloyd. He joined the band co-led by trombonist Al Grey and tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell and stayed with them until they landed in New York in late 1961. New York was a hotbed of changes in jazz and Bobby played and recorded not only under his own name but with people like Herbie Hancock, Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur; the list goes on. Hutcherson moved back to the west coast in 1967 and settled in San Francisco where he joined saxophonist John Handy’s innovative quintet and toured with them. After leaving Handy, Bobby hooked up with the great tenor saxophonist Harold Land and formed a working band (usually with different people in the rhythm section depending on the gig) the band lasted for about five years. Land and Hutcherson brought out the best in one another as the older Land gave Bobby a sense of roots and tradition and Bobby inspired Land to modernize and update his already formidable concept. They recorded some great albums mostly for Blue Note....."”Total Eclipse" stands out as a gem. They played Vancouver in l970 at “Ronnie’s Riverqueen” on Davie Street, a club run by singer Ron Small and his ten wife. Hutcherson and Land dazzled Vancouver jazz fans with their innovative and swinging sounds. Pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Ron McLure and drummer Oliver Johnson made up the rhythm section. After Land and Bobby went their separate ways (they re-united in the l980’s in a band called the timeless all-stars) “Hutch” gigged with alto saxophonist Frank Strozier and trumpeter Woody Shaw and then formed his own band made up of San Francisco based players. It’s that band we hear tonight. Recorded in l977 this band had a light and airy sound and played very lyrical but harmonically complex tunes written by everybody in the group. Emmanuel “Manny” Boyd plaed mostly soprano but some tenor saxophone. The blend of vibes and soprano gave the band it’s light, lyrical sound. George Cables played piano, James Leary played bass and Eddie Marshall played drums and Hutcheson played both vibes and marimba (vibes have metal bars and marimba has wooden bars). On tonight’s feature Bobby sticks to vibes. This band recorded a couple of fine albums for Blue Note but the one we are going to hear tonight was done for the European label “Timeless” and is rare. The album is called “The Stroll” and everyone is inspired from playing compositions by drummer Eddie Marshall and Hutcherson plus an up-tempo version of Dizzy’s “Salt Peanuts” that is much faster than the original. This band (without Cables) played at “Oil Can Harry’s” Jazz Room for a week in 1977 and was astounding. Bobby Hutcherson will be playing at this year’s Jazz Festival in a concert that you’ll not want to miss.
April 10: Chick Corea’s “Three Quartets” is a masterpiece or to put it more clearly a jazz masterpiece because when talking of Corea one must always define and discern what type of music Chick is playing as he has played and recorded just about every style that one can think of from jazz to “fusion” to Latin to funk and to classical and so on. This album marked Corea’s return to “acoustic jazz” after a long foray into other styles (jazz-rock-fusion using electric instruments) and was recorded in the early 1980’s. Corea does this all the time and always seems to confound the hard core jazz fans and critics. He’ll record and perform other styles and be written off by the core folks and then switch gears and return with a superb “acoustic” and pure jazz recording and all is forgiven and Corea is once again returned to the top of the “artistic” heap. Tonight’s album did just that and it proves that a pianist/composer of Corea’s abilities can never be written off even though one might no like some of his output.
This feature consists of three extended compositions by Corea called simply “Quartet #1” “Quartet #2” (divided into two parts. Parts 1 dedicated to Duke Ellington and part 2 dedicated to John Coltrane) and “Quartet #3” and the pieces are played by Corea on acoustic grand piano. Eddie Gomez on acoustic bass and Steve Gadd on drums. Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone not only displays his musical mastery but shows why he was ( and still is) one of the most influential saxophonists of the last thirty years and why he is head and shoulder above his many imitators. Sadly today Brecker is very ill with a rare disease that requires a bone marrow transplant and the long search for a donor is ongoing. Brecker is still fairly young so we are all hoping and wishing him well. Brecker’s playing on tonight’s feature is some of his best and if he had made just this recording Michael would have achieved greatness. “Three Quartets” is a masterpiece so don’t miss this one!
April 17: “Perceptions” is a major work by trombone master J. J. Johnson who was a composer and as you’ll hear a very gifted writer. This work is for a 21 piece brass orchestra (including harp, bass and drums) conducted by Gunther Schuller and featuring none other than John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie soloist. It was Gillespie that started the ball rolling on this major endeavor. Dizzy was always an admirer of J. J. Johnson’s writing and arranging abilities and talked jazz impresario Norman Granz into commissioning Johnson to write a major work for a large orchestra. The result was “perceptions”. It is a very formal work and is closer to the classical tradition than one would expect from a jazz musician. Johnson was of course influenced by Bartok, Stravinsky and especially Paul Hinemith and studied their scores and methods and you’ll hear this in tonight’s music. As soloist Dizzy had a lot of problems to overcome but through his immense talent and his ability to adjust and adapt; Birks pulled it off beautifully and was proud of his work on the finished product. “Perceptions” is a six part suite that stands tall in the careers of J. J. Johnson and Dizzy Gillespie. This great work is tonight’s feature.....try not to miss it.
April 24: Johnny Griffin, tenor saxophone master known as “The Chicago Fire” and “The Little Giant” was born in the windy city on this day in 1928. So we are celebrating his seventy-eight birthday. John Arnold Griffin III is still very much alive and well and playing his buns off as always. Johnny has made a number of trips to Vancouver in recent years and it would be a treat to hear him again. “Griff” was a child prodigy and as a teen joined Lionel Hampton’s Swinging Circus in the mid-forties and never looked back.....he played “Rhythm and Blues” with Joe Morris (the band included Griffin’s life-long buddies pianist Elmo Hope and drummer “Philly Joe” Jones) joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the mid-fifties and replaced Coltrane in Thelonious Monk’s band and formed a great two-saxophone band with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. Griffin left America for Europe in 1963 to get away from a marriage that had gone sour, tax and I.R.S. troubles and racism. Griffin thrived in Europe (to this day he lives in France and is fluent in several languages) often meeting up with and joining forces with other American ex-pats and making scads of good records. Griffin tours and returns to the U. S. and Canada but has no desire to ever live here again. Tonight’s feature finds Johnny in great form in Copenhagen at the famous Montmartre Jazzhuis with the best band he has ever had with fellow ex-pat Kenny Drew on piano and temporary ex-pat Albert “Tuttie” Heath on drums and the great and recently departed Nils-Henning Orsted Pederson on bass (the great Dane). These are full length performances on the standards and blues that Johnny loves and everyone gets a chance to shine especially the little giant.....happy birthday Griff and never retire.
The 11:00PM Jazz Features this month:
April 3: Bobby Hutcherson “The Stroll”.
April 10: Chick Corea “Three Quartets”.
April 17: Dizzy Gillespie (soloist) with the J. J. Johnson Orchestra “Perceptions”.
April 24: Johnny Griffin “The Man I Love”.
April 3: Bobby Hutcherson is really one of the geniuses of the vibraphone or vibraharp. Bobby was born in Los Angeles on January 27, 1941 and raised in Pasadena and was a bit of a prodigy beginning on piano at age nine and developing fast. He heard Milt Jackson play and became obsessed with the vibes and never looked back. He took some lessons from Dave Pike (an overlooked figure in the development of the vibes) and soon as a young teen began working with locals namely saxohponists Curtis Amy and Charles Lloyd. He joined the band co-led by trombonist Al Grey and tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell and stayed with them until they landed in New York in late 1961. New York was a hotbed of changes in jazz and Bobby played and recorded not only under his own name but with people like Herbie Hancock, Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur; the list goes on. Hutcherson moved back to the west coast in 1967 and settled in San Francisco where he joined saxophonist John Handy’s innovative quintet and toured with them. After leaving Handy, Bobby hooked up with the great tenor saxophonist Harold Land and formed a working band (usually with different people in the rhythm section depending on the gig) the band lasted for about five years. Land and Hutcherson brought out the best in one another as the older Land gave Bobby a sense of roots and tradition and Bobby inspired Land to modernize and update his already formidable concept. They recorded some great albums mostly for Blue Note....."”Total Eclipse" stands out as a gem. They played Vancouver in l970 at “Ronnie’s Riverqueen” on Davie Street, a club run by singer Ron Small and his ten wife. Hutcherson and Land dazzled Vancouver jazz fans with their innovative and swinging sounds. Pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Ron McLure and drummer Oliver Johnson made up the rhythm section. After Land and Bobby went their separate ways (they re-united in the l980’s in a band called the timeless all-stars) “Hutch” gigged with alto saxophonist Frank Strozier and trumpeter Woody Shaw and then formed his own band made up of San Francisco based players. It’s that band we hear tonight. Recorded in l977 this band had a light and airy sound and played very lyrical but harmonically complex tunes written by everybody in the group. Emmanuel “Manny” Boyd plaed mostly soprano but some tenor saxophone. The blend of vibes and soprano gave the band it’s light, lyrical sound. George Cables played piano, James Leary played bass and Eddie Marshall played drums and Hutcheson played both vibes and marimba (vibes have metal bars and marimba has wooden bars). On tonight’s feature Bobby sticks to vibes. This band recorded a couple of fine albums for Blue Note but the one we are going to hear tonight was done for the European label “Timeless” and is rare. The album is called “The Stroll” and everyone is inspired from playing compositions by drummer Eddie Marshall and Hutcherson plus an up-tempo version of Dizzy’s “Salt Peanuts” that is much faster than the original. This band (without Cables) played at “Oil Can Harry’s” Jazz Room for a week in 1977 and was astounding. Bobby Hutcherson will be playing at this year’s Jazz Festival in a concert that you’ll not want to miss.
April 10: Chick Corea’s “Three Quartets” is a masterpiece or to put it more clearly a jazz masterpiece because when talking of Corea one must always define and discern what type of music Chick is playing as he has played and recorded just about every style that one can think of from jazz to “fusion” to Latin to funk and to classical and so on. This album marked Corea’s return to “acoustic jazz” after a long foray into other styles (jazz-rock-fusion using electric instruments) and was recorded in the early 1980’s. Corea does this all the time and always seems to confound the hard core jazz fans and critics. He’ll record and perform other styles and be written off by the core folks and then switch gears and return with a superb “acoustic” and pure jazz recording and all is forgiven and Corea is once again returned to the top of the “artistic” heap. Tonight’s album did just that and it proves that a pianist/composer of Corea’s abilities can never be written off even though one might no like some of his output.
This feature consists of three extended compositions by Corea called simply “Quartet #1” “Quartet #2” (divided into two parts. Parts 1 dedicated to Duke Ellington and part 2 dedicated to John Coltrane) and “Quartet #3” and the pieces are played by Corea on acoustic grand piano. Eddie Gomez on acoustic bass and Steve Gadd on drums. Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone not only displays his musical mastery but shows why he was ( and still is) one of the most influential saxophonists of the last thirty years and why he is head and shoulder above his many imitators. Sadly today Brecker is very ill with a rare disease that requires a bone marrow transplant and the long search for a donor is ongoing. Brecker is still fairly young so we are all hoping and wishing him well. Brecker’s playing on tonight’s feature is some of his best and if he had made just this recording Michael would have achieved greatness. “Three Quartets” is a masterpiece so don’t miss this one!
April 17: “Perceptions” is a major work by trombone master J. J. Johnson who was a composer and as you’ll hear a very gifted writer. This work is for a 21 piece brass orchestra (including harp, bass and drums) conducted by Gunther Schuller and featuring none other than John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie soloist. It was Gillespie that started the ball rolling on this major endeavor. Dizzy was always an admirer of J. J. Johnson’s writing and arranging abilities and talked jazz impresario Norman Granz into commissioning Johnson to write a major work for a large orchestra. The result was “perceptions”. It is a very formal work and is closer to the classical tradition than one would expect from a jazz musician. Johnson was of course influenced by Bartok, Stravinsky and especially Paul Hinemith and studied their scores and methods and you’ll hear this in tonight’s music. As soloist Dizzy had a lot of problems to overcome but through his immense talent and his ability to adjust and adapt; Birks pulled it off beautifully and was proud of his work on the finished product. “Perceptions” is a six part suite that stands tall in the careers of J. J. Johnson and Dizzy Gillespie. This great work is tonight’s feature.....try not to miss it.
April 24: Johnny Griffin, tenor saxophone master known as “The Chicago Fire” and “The Little Giant” was born in the windy city on this day in 1928. So we are celebrating his seventy-eight birthday. John Arnold Griffin III is still very much alive and well and playing his buns off as always. Johnny has made a number of trips to Vancouver in recent years and it would be a treat to hear him again. “Griff” was a child prodigy and as a teen joined Lionel Hampton’s Swinging Circus in the mid-forties and never looked back.....he played “Rhythm and Blues” with Joe Morris (the band included Griffin’s life-long buddies pianist Elmo Hope and drummer “Philly Joe” Jones) joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the mid-fifties and replaced Coltrane in Thelonious Monk’s band and formed a great two-saxophone band with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. Griffin left America for Europe in 1963 to get away from a marriage that had gone sour, tax and I.R.S. troubles and racism. Griffin thrived in Europe (to this day he lives in France and is fluent in several languages) often meeting up with and joining forces with other American ex-pats and making scads of good records. Griffin tours and returns to the U. S. and Canada but has no desire to ever live here again. Tonight’s feature finds Johnny in great form in Copenhagen at the famous Montmartre Jazzhuis with the best band he has ever had with fellow ex-pat Kenny Drew on piano and temporary ex-pat Albert “Tuttie” Heath on drums and the great and recently departed Nils-Henning Orsted Pederson on bass (the great Dane). These are full length performances on the standards and blues that Johnny loves and everyone gets a chance to shine especially the little giant.....happy birthday Griff and never retire.